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GTP & Respiratory Noises

Joolissa

Joolissa

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Hello!
I purchased an adult green tree python this past December and set her up in an Exo Terra 18x18x24 arboreal terrarium. It has around 4-5 inches of water in the bottom with a filter, heater, a pump with tube running up the back to create a waterfall, and fogger. Also, two levels of PVC pipe perches, various fake plants, a bit of vine, and two big rocks. I have a ceramic heat lamp in one corner with a thermostat set to 90. The ambient temp is around 80. The humidity is around 60-70% getting up to 90-100% once daily when the fogger and water fountain run for a couple hours in the late afternoon.

My girl seems to be enjoying her home and is a great snake. She's docile, a great eater, wonderfully colored, and seems pretty darn healthy, except for one thing. She seems to make some clicking, occasional gurgling, and loud breathing sounds. There is no mucous dripping from her mouth or bubbles issuing from her nose and the fork in her tongue is not stuck together. I haven't opened her mouth all the way to look in, but everything appears clear. She has been making some clicking and breathing sounds since I've had her, but it seems louder recently. I recently had a corn snake with a RI, but she healed well and is doing fine. Does anyone have any suggestions on what this might be? Could she just be a loud breather? Should I adjust anything in her cage?

Any tips and suggestions are very welcome!
- Julia Grace
 
is this when you handle her or just hanging around in her cage. either way i say a vet trip is in order but make sure they are very well versed in arboreals. in my experiance if its when your handling her not while she is in her cage just chillin than chances are she is fine. the clicking and hissing crap is just her expressing her dislike of being handled.

trip to the vet may be in order. i will let someone else comment on the set up. it sounds right me but its been a couple of yrs since i kept gtps.
 
Now that you mention it. That may well be the case. I've noticed it when holding her or when I am getting her out or doing something with her in the cage. I don't know that I've heard it with her just sitting there and it's not continual. I think, though I will have to check, that it stops for the most part after she's been out for a few minutes. It did intensify when I was trying to get a look at her mouth and nose, which she wasn't thrilled about. I'll have to give the theory a test. I didn't know snakes did that. Thanks!

I will keep an eye out for any worsening symptoms. The only herp vets in my area are really expensive and I don't know that they're versed in arboreals. It does sound like general annoyance at me though. Thanks again!
- Julia Grace
 
after yrs of dealing with carpets unless i hear it while they are just chillin in thier cage i don't worry to much about it. not sure of gtp's though. though they are morelia so they might be the same. i know when i had a blood python get a respertory it literally kept me up at night with weezing it was constant. if it is only when you handle her she is probly just letting you know she is not happy.

(note and an important one i am not a vet and am only sharing my experiance.)
also if you do have a herp vet that is versed in arboreals it may be better getting info online. from what i hear vets can kill a gtp or an etb quick.

is the bottom of the cage literally water or do you have some kind of bedding in the bottom
 
Yea, she's definitely not that loud or constant.

I've heard the same about some of the vets. =/

The bottom is all water, except for two large rocks. It's somewhat similar to: http://www.sprucenubblefarm.com/animals/greentreepythoncaresheet_exoterra.php
though I don't have the rocks lining the bottom as pictured, have much more perching areas (two bars of PVC at two levels all the way across the cage with vine in between and a hanging bundle of plants that she spends 90% of her time on), and deeper water. I'm not always home everyday, so the easiest way to solve the humidity and misting needs was to put water and the fogger in. She seems pretty happy with it and drinks from the water fountain. It keeps the humidity and heat up.
 
just pulled out the carpet i was talking about and he is bubbling mucus from the mouth

so looks like your not the only one with a vet trip in thier future.

got to love the shipping process.
 
I had a white lip a while ago. I read the care sheets and they all said 80% humidity, so I kept him at 80% humidity. Constantly. If it was dry, I'd mist again.

He was constantly sick, I couldn't figure out why.

Ah, he needs a peak of 80% and then it needs to dry out for a while and then go back to 80 periodically.

I don't know about GTP's, but the reason my white lip was sick was my constant humidity issues.

I have an ETB and he gets hosed down twice a day, that's all. He has a folded towel as substrate. In the middle of the day, his humidity gets to around 40% before I hose him down again at around 7pm.
 
Oh no! I hope your carpet gets better. Good luck with a vet if you take it. I had a good experience with
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754380 and something like
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2811520
for treating my corn snake. She got a dropperful of vitamins and Marvel Aid in her water daily for 1 week along with a cc or so of each in her mouth for 3 or 4 days and a warmed up temp for 1 week. Of course, her RI was from her cage being really drafty, which I didn't know about until she started bubbling. Good luck!


Yea, my gtp is probably constantly around 60% and then it goes up once a day (sometimes every other day or every couple days when I add water since the fogger doesn't work as well when the water is deep). It gets a bit dryer when I open up the doors. She had one bad shed right after she arrived, but has had two good sheds since I've had her.
 
you should change the bottom substrate! The entire bottom should not be water! They do like to go on the ground too occasionally. if you hear the gurgling again bring it to a qualified vet! she may be developing a respiratory infection from her cage never drying out enough. water on the entire bottom is a bad idea. i recommend you looking around on here if you don't believe me: http://moreliaviridis.yuku.com/
 
Thanks for your concern, but I don't plan on changing my caging right now. I posted a link of a very similar set up on a very good GTP breeders website and I have done plenty of research about humidity levels. Everything that I have been able to find says they need to dry out to 50-60%, which my cage does. She also comes out of her cage into dryer environments and it dries out further when I open the doors. She has gotten much healthier than when she arrived in this enclosure. I have been paying a lot of attention to when she makes the noises I was concerned about and she only ever makes them when I am in contact with her in some way. In fact, I was running my finger along her the other day to make sure that she wasn't too dry since she's about to shed and she gurgled right at me. It is just her way of saying I'm being annoying. I've never had a snake that's done that, so it was something I hadn't encountered before. Again, thank you for your concern and I will definitely bookmark that site for future reference!
 
whatnowcustoms said:
you should change the bottom substrate! The entire bottom should not be water! They do like to go on the ground too occasionally. if you hear the gurgling again bring it to a qualified vet! she may be developing a respiratory infection from her cage never drying out enough. water on the entire bottom is a bad idea. i recommend you looking around on here if you don't believe me: http://moreliaviridis.yuku.com/
Click to expand...

I definitely agree with this post. you need to change your all water substrate, to a larger waterbowl in combination with the mister.
 
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